Legislature approves Oelslager bill requiring newborn screenings

Thursday

The Ohio General Assembly this week approved legislation requiring nearly every newborn baby in Ohio be tested for congenital heart defects before being discharged from the hospital.

The Ohio Senate voted 32-0 Thursday to approve a bill that would require nearly every newborn baby in Ohio be screened for congenital heart defects.

Senate Bill 4, which was sponsored by state senators Scott Oelslager, R-North Canton, and Gayle Manning, R-North Ridgeville, now goes to Gov. John Kasich. His spokesman, Rob Nichols, said in an email that the governor will sign the bill into law.

Oelslager said, “My colleagues recognized there is a need there, and this was a piece of legislation that would actually save lives. It was a simple, non-invasive procedure that could easily be done in the hospital setting.”

Lauren Capo of Lake Township testified this spring in favor of the bill before House and Senate committees. Capo said without her daughter Sophia’s congenital heart defect being detected by the pulse oximetry test, she would have died far earlier. Her daughter died at 15 days of age in June 2012 due to complications.

On hearing the bill had passed, Capo said she was “absolutely thrilled.”

She said, “We know by bringing our (two other) children down to (Columbus) and telling (Sophia’s) story ... that we have really helped be a part of something that will help other families and save babies’ lives.”

Thursday’s Senate vote came after the Ohio House voted 93-0 Tuesday to approve the legislation.

The Senate, in March, approved an earlier version of the bill that would have required hospitals and birthing centers to perform pulse oximetry screening for congenital heart defects on all newborns.

A pulse oximeter device sends a beam of red and infrared light through body tissue. Blood hemoglobin combined with oxygen absorbs infrared light allowing the device to detect an abnormally low level of oxygen in the blood, which is a symptom of a heart problem.

Due to concerns by the Ohio Hospital Association that hospitals would be overly restricted if a better screening test came along, the House Health and Aging Committee modified the bill. The Ohio Health Department would have to mandate procedures involving the use of pulse oximetry or another screening method that would work “at least as accurately as pulse oximetry.” Parents can still object to the screening on religious grounds.

Reach Robert at 330-580-8327 or robert.wang@cantonrep.com.

On Twitter: @rwangREP

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